Is antinatalism actually a valid philosophy?

lonetrucker4 said:A quick search on Google pulls up 97,700 results for "antinatalism." You've got Wikipedia articles, entire threads on philosophyforums.com, dedicated blogs on blogspot.com, quotes all over goodreads.com... the list goes on.

You don't have to "hate all of existence" to be an antinatalist.

Isn't the hatred of all reality actually called efilism? I believe that is the term; at least, that is what I have heard.

That’s just plain nonsense. This planet can handle a few more people.

ironjackal44 said:That’s just plain nonsense. This planet can handle a few more people.

However, I believe that isn't always the primary issue at hand. Antinatalism is generally more closely linked to a pessimistic outlook regarding life and existence itself. Personally, I identify as an antinatalist.

Gerald Hill said:However, I believe that isn't always the primary issue at hand. Antinatalism is generally more closely linked to a pessimistic outlook regarding life and existence itself. Personally, I identify as an antinatalist.

If you really want to get somewhere, you’ve got to dig deeper and rise above all that.
Being negative doesn't build anything. Look at life's hurdles this way: the tougher the climb, the better it feels when you finally hit the summit.
Sure, plenty of things out there are tragic and heavy, but why choose to be a spiritual zombie?
Think about how Quincy was sustained by bread brought by ravens and water by the brook—even then, he was probably one of the most fulfilled men in the whole country.
True strength isn't about what you have or what you're missing; it's about what you actually want out of life.

Gerald Hill said:Regarding those who oppose procreation, I am curious to hear your thoughts. What is your perspective on them, and are there any such individuals within this group? Some advocate for this philosophical stance by viewing life as inherently harsh and devoid of value, often citing the fact that Earth's resources are finite. Do you believe antinatalism is a rational viewpoint, or do you consider it to be unnatural and irrational?

It is quite clearly both rational and "unnatural."

Epicurus was this ancient Greek philosopher back in the day. Lost his sight pretty early on because of smallpox, and basically spent his time being a total skeptic—anti-religion, super rational, and honestly just pretty pessimistic. He wrote a ton of poetry too. His whole deal was calling out the big religions for having zero proof and just sticking to dogma. To him, logic was king; no amount of tradition or superstition was gonna override pure reason. He didn't buy the whole afterlife thing either, felt like life itself was a bit of a wash, so he was basically an early advocate for antinatalism—thinking we shouldn't be bringing kids into this mess. Plus, he leaned into secular ethics, staying vegan and a pacifist.

The comic and the text are up on http://existentialcomics.com/.

Not bad. 11th century... same old questions, same old topics—nothing happening today is actually new. Someone else has already had these exact same thoughts before.

Gerald Hill said:Regarding those who oppose procreation, I am curious to hear your thoughts. What is your perspective on them, and are there any such individuals within this group? Some advocate for this philosophical stance by viewing life as inherently harsh and devoid of value, often citing the fact that Earth's resources are finite. Do you believe antinatalism is a rational viewpoint, or do you consider it to be unnatural and irrational?

Personally, I think we should aim to reduce suffering through selective breeding, which would naturally bump up mortality rates. Going for total annihilation feels extreme and honestly pretty naive to me. We don't even truly understand what life is or what it could become, yet we want to pull the plug just because we decide it's too painful or worthless.
To me, it feels unnatural. As for whether it's rational, I’d say yes—but only if you're looking through our current, pretty bleak cultural lens. Regarding the people holding these views, I’ve met a few; most are around my age and just seem totally disillusioned with everything. Their existence feels miserable because *they* are miserable, so things like anti-natalism or nihilism feel perfectly logical to them. Meanwhile, people who are actually out there living their lives see things differently, even though they have access to the exact same logic used to justify pessimism. I guess it all comes down to how you feel, and maybe rationality is just subjective.
P.S. I realized I’ve used the word "think" quite a bit lately. Irony intended. 😁

I honestly don't get why anyone would have a single issue with Natalie Portman. Beyond the fact that she’s got an incredible voice and seems like such a genuinely sweet person, she's just really easy on the eyes too.